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Sunday, 28 February 2010

Last weekend, I did something I've never done before. Something I guess I'd regret if I hadn't done it.

I went to watch a play, all by myself.

It was a couple of weeks ago, while I was walking across town to get my badly-needed haircut when I came across this advert poster showing a new play coming to the local repertory theatre. Intrigued, to say the least, and curious I was. 18 months I've been here in this small Scottish town and I have never really explored all it has to offer. The play would have been a perfect excuse for me to get out of my usual routine and indulge myself in something totally different.

Truth be told, I'm jaded with my life. Since young, I've been prodded towards the Science stream, having school results 'above average'. All my life I've only known a world of numbers and physic laws and chemical bonds. Now, having my path in life already set out in front of me, at times I wondered what it was like if everything had been different.

I'm intrigued, and curious. Of a whole different world I have never experienced. Will probably never know what it's like to be in.

The world of Arts.

That was why I decided to watch that play, actually. Even though it meant that I'll have to go by myself, since I can't think of anyone around who would share that same interest, that same curiosity and sense of intrigue.

That play was Equus. Yes, the same story involving horses and a certain Harry Potter star being nude. Honestly, that piece of gossip absolutely undermined the real quality of the play itself. It deserved far more than being known as 'the play Daniel Radcliffe acted nude in'. The story was highly disturbing. Thought-provoking. And absolutely captivating.

Not to spoil the story, it was about a psychiatrist called in to help a young boy who had a certain 'abnormal' passion with horses. From the start to finish, it was like I was watching the real story unfold itself in front of me. Two and a half hours, I sat there transfixed. I cried. I laughed. I jumped off my seat. The play was that good.

My compliments go to the everyone involved in the play. The direction, acting, lighting, sound effects, were all perfect. For a small-ish repertory theatre (compared to the likes of Edinburgh and Glasgow), it was very professionally done and directed. Forget the Hollywood special effects and explosions and corny lines. This is the real entertainment, as it was centuries and centuries ago.

I guess people indulge in different things in life. Chocolate, alcohol, food, sports cars. I have no interest in any of that. I indulge in the world of arts. The world that has always intrigued me. Kept me curious.

Or perhaps I was just jaded and wanted to escape this life into another world.